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The White House has put forth a proposal to reform the environmental review process for new energy projects, aiming to streamline and expedite the reviews conducted under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), as reported by Reuters on July 29. NEPA is a significant environmental law that mandates environmental reviews for major projects, often leading to delays that can last for years. The proposed reforms seek to modernize these reviews by encouraging “programmatic” environmental reviews that cover multiple projects together, rather than conducting individual reviews for each project. Additionally, federal agencies would be granted the authority to exempt certain project categories from review, further expediting the process. The proposal will limit the need for reviews on projects that federal agencies identify as having notable and lasting positive impacts.
These reforms represent the second phase of the White House’s efforts to improve the NEPA review process. In the previous phase, the Biden administration reinstated key provisions of the NEPA that were removed during the Trump administration. These provisions require federal agencies to consider the direct, indirect, and cumulative environmental impacts of proposed projects or actions. The current work aims to enhance the efficiency of the review processes to support the clean energy and infrastructure goals of the Biden administration. Moreover, the reforms emphasize environmental justice and meaningful public engagement. Agencies will be directed to consider environmental justice in their reviews and encouraged to incorporate measures to prevent or mitigate disproportionate effects on communities.
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